Rantz: Hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on gender reassignment surgeries on transgender inmates

Taxpayers shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide dozens of transgender inmates with gender reassignment surgeries, hormone replacement therapies, and other so-called “gender-affirming healthcare.” The state is about to pay for a murderer’s “gender-affirming surgery” next.

After a Disability Rights Washington complaint against the Department of Corrections (DOC) in 2020, inmates in custody became eligible for gender reassignment surgeries. Since then, 44 inmates across nine of the state’s eleven prison facilities received taxpayer-funded gender-affirming healthcare courtesy of state and federal tax dollars. The total cost was $592,577.67 through June 2024, and some of the costs were covered by Medicaid.

At that time, the Washington Corrections Center for Women housed the most transgender inmates — 12 — who underwent surgery. Monroe Correctional Complex housed eight, while Airway Heights Corrections Center and Stafford Creek Corrections Center housed five. The Washington State Penitentiary, Clallam Bay Corrections Center, and Coyote Ridge Corrections Center housed two each, while Washington Corrections Center housed one.

An inmate’s eligibility for free surgeries and other transgender health-related services is not contingent on how much time is left on a sentence post-conviction, nor does the DOC prioritize nor neglect the elective surgeries based on one’s conviction. That explains why not everyone who gets taxpayer-funded surgeries stays in custody. Eight transgender inmates received care, but have since been released.

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Why is it so difficult to track transgender issues in prison?

Due to the newly implemented legislative “protections” advanced by Democrats in Olympia, it’s nearly impossible to provide a detailed look at the issue. It also means inmates are at risk of abuse by biologically male inmates who may abuse the system to be placed in a female-only prison. There were approximately 250 transgender-identified inmates in June.

While some basic information is provided, the DOC will not confirm whether specific inmates are transgender because of House Bill 1956. It prevents the release of vital data about inmates’ gender identity, effectively gagging transparency and making it harder for the public to know what’s happening inside our prisons. The argument from the Left that this protects transgender inmates from harm is a smokescreen—it obscures the real issue: whether these inmates pose a threat to others in women’s prisons. By restricting this information, lawmakers are undermining public safety and accountability in favor of identity politics.

The department won’t even explain the biological gender of an inmate before and after surgery, making it difficult to find out if biological males are housed in women’s prisons. Under DOC policy, an inmate can choose a gender identity, no matter if they’re housed in a men’s or women’s prison. Even after gender reassignment surgery, the gender of an inmate is not updated unless that inmate requests it. The public may not access history of gender-affirming medical care for inmates, even if it’s provided independent of one’s identity, to ensure that the claim of transgender identity is legitimate.

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Trans murderer caught having sex in women’s prison

Bryan Kim murdered his parents in 2006, stabbing his father, Richard, and bludgeoning and strangling his mother, Terri, to death. Two years later, he was found guilty of two counts of aggravated first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Kim was housed in a men’s prison until 2020. Seven years earlier, Bryan Kim privately came out as transgender to staff and, in 2017, began identifying as Amber FayeFox Kim. With a newly-implemented transgender housing policy in 2020, Kim was moved to the Washington Corrections Center for Women in 2021. At the time, Kim had not undergone the so-called “bottom surgery,” but had begun the process of meeting with medical professionals.

Kim did not last long at the Washington Corrections Center for Women before being deemed a threat to female inmates. The DOC said Kim was moved back to a men’s facility, Monroe Correctional Facility, in 2023 because of “ongoing safety and security concerns.” According to an incident report, first reported by the National Review, Kim was seen “laying on the floor completely nude from the waist down with their cellmate… on top of them also nude from the waist down actively having sex.”

“It was for her own safety, as well as the safety of the other incarcerated individuals at the Washington Corrections Center for Women. This is the first time someone has been transferred out of gender-affirming housing and returned to a men’s prison,” a DOC spokesperson explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

Why are we paying for a murderer’s gender reassignment?

During the transfer to Monroe, a DOC spokesperson said Kim “attempted to assault DOC staff.” Then, in protest of the transfer, Kim went on a hunger strike, according to a blog reportedly written by the transgender inmate.

But Kim stopped the hunger strike on day 17 because, according to the blog, it threatened pending gender reassignment surgery.

“On Monday, July 8th, I was informed that if I did not end my hunger strike, I would be denied access to an upcoming gender-affirming surgery, so at this time, I am forced to suspend by hunger strike,” Kim said, per the blog. “The state is trying to force me to choose between safe housing or a gender-affirming surgery that will allow me to live my life more fully.”

The blog hasn’t been updated since July and it’s unclear if the surgery already took place. Given Washington state law makes tracking the impacts that transgender inmates have on the rest of the prison population, coverage shouldn’t be guaranteed.

After committing horrific crimes, Kim appears to have manipulated the system, risking the safety of women in prison and still securing a taxpayer-funded surgery. This is not healthcare; it’s a complete failure of justice, putting identity politics above common sense. Why are we rewarding violent criminals with expensive surgeries on the public’s dime?

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